It is known to employ a tufting machine to produce a tufted floor covering. It is also known to use an adjustable tufting machine for adjusting the pile height of a tufted floor covering. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,432 of Dodd, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,056 of Christman, Jr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,379 of Cobble, Sr. However, such conventional adjustable tufting machines suffer from several disadvantages. For example, conventional adjustable tufting machines are complex in construction. The adjustment of the pile height produced by conventional adjustable tufting machines is time consuming and labor intensive. In addition, conventional adjustable tufting machines do not permit the user to adjust the pile height of a tufted floor covering to any desired pile height within a range of pile heights.
It would be desirable, therefore, if a method and apparatus for an adjustable pile height mechanism could be provided that would be less complex in construction. It would also be desirable if such a method and apparatus could be provided that would permit less time consuming and less labor intensive adjustment of the pile height for a tufted floor covering. It would be further desirable if such a method and apparatus could be provided that would permit the user to adjust the pile height of a tufted floor covering to an infinite number of desired pile heights within a range of pile heights.